House OKs special-ed bill

Provision gives schools leeway to discipline students

May 01, 2003|By Bryan A. Keogh, Washington Bureau.

WASHINGTON — When Brielle, a disabled 8-year-old girl from Maryland, gets excited, she flaps her arms as if hoping to fly. Though she means no harm, she has a developmental disorder and sometimes inadvertently hits her classmates.

Advocates for people with disabilities worry that a bill passed Wednesday by the House will make it easier for schools to suspend -- even expel -- children like Brielle, whose disabilities lead them to accidentally break a school's code of conduct. The bill passed 251-171.

"It makes no sense to punish a child for doing something she didn't mean to do," said Julie Venners Yannes, Brielle's mother. "Even if it's accidental, the law says she could be expelled."

The provision allowing schools more leeway to discipline students is part of sweeping legislation to reform the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA.

"At the heart of it, this legislation is aimed at helping children with disabilities get a better education," said Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.), who sponsored the bill. He said the bill would allow teachers to spend more time in the classroom rather than filling out paperwork.

Called the Improving Education Results for Children with Disabilities Act, the measure contains provisions to prevent the misidentification of students as disabled, to increase the level of federal funding for special education and to loosen regulations and reporting requirements for schools.

`Giant step backward'

But Democrats and advocates for the disabled say the bill represents the most significant setback for children with disabilities in decades because it makes it easier for schools to exclude children from special education and suspend or expel them.

"Today's vote is a giant step backward for children with mental and emotional disabilities," said Tammy Seltzer, a staff attorney with the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, a non-profit advocacy group focusing on the rights of people with mental disabilities.

Congress first created federal rules for special education programs in 1975 to ensure that students diagnosed with a disability are given access to a public education that addresses their specific needs in the least restrictive environment.

About 6.5 million children, or 8 percent of all students, are enrolled in programs under IDEA, according to the Department of Education.

Advocates for children with disabilities say the bill passed Wednesday gives schools too much control and makes it harder for parents to challenge school decisions.

Most Democrats voted against the bill. They did defeat an amendment that would have allowed parents to use federal funds to send disabled children to private schools.

Democrats and special-education activists also oppose the $11 billion reform package for failing to provide full funding for the program. Congress promised to pay 40 percent of the act's costs when the program was authorized 28 years ago, but the federal government currently funds only 18 percent, leaving states to pick up the rest.

Though the bill raises that level of coverage to 21 percent and says Congress is committed to reaching 40 percent in seven years, Democrats argue the commitment must be made mandatory.

The Senate is expected to pass an IDEA reform bill this summer, and President Bush has said he will sign the legislation.

The bill would significantly alter how parents, schools and teachers participate in and comply with IDEA. One of the most contentious provisions would allow schools to treat children with learning disabilities just as they would any other student when deciding punishment for a violation of school policy.

Critics of the measure say some schools' zero tolerance policies are so stringent that a shout in a classroom, or even a hug, could result in a suspension.

Defending the measure

Republicans defend the measure, arguing that current law amounts to a double standard and promotes an unsafe learning environment by limiting the ability of teachers and schools to remove from classrooms students who might pose a threat.

If a disabled student engages in misconduct, the school must now consider how the child's disability affected the behavior, making it harder for schools to punish them for more serious violations, but preventing such children from being punished for behavior they cannot control.

The bill will also seek to reduce the number of students mislabeled as disabled, particularly minority students who are disproportionately diagnosed as mentally retarded or emotionally disturbed and placed in a restrictive educational environment, according to the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University.